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Andrea Bonelli, the woman behind the gorgeous rings, earrings, and necklaces you see below, is a self-taught metalsmith whose pieces are above all interesting. She incorporates textures and hand-crafted details into every piece of jewelry to make each truly spectacular and one-of-a-kind. On top of that, all of the gold and silver Andrea uses is recycled, and she only chooses ethically mined diamonds. If you haven’t checked out her website yet, you better get over there and check out how absolutely jaw-dropping the rest of her pieces are!

In the spirit of Andrea’s eco-friendly collection, we asked readers to share with us how they are incorporating eco-chic details into their own weddings. I was struck by how passionate y’all are about making your weddings eco-friendly! Some of the ideas you came up with blew me away! Here are a few of my favorite tips:

Jessica:” To make our wedding eco-friendly we are collecting old mason jars and vases to be used in our centerpieces. We are also using old buttons and vintage ribbon in our decor. We plan on using/reusing as many items as we possibly can :) Love your website! Thanks for the inspiration and great ideas!”

Stefanie: “One of my favorite eco friendly aspects I am including is having potted herbs as centerpieces, that double as favors! It will be beautiful, they won’t go to waste days after the wedding, and they will be so aromatic! I am also using recycled paper, and using all local vendors! By the way… love the jewelry!!”

Jess: “We’re focusing on eco-friendliness for our wedding! The ceremony’s going to be held in the woods and the reception’ll be a picnic in the park. Think quilts and blankets spread across a lawn, kites flying in the air…We’re using recycled paper for our invitations, using mis-matched china for the hor d’oevres, going minimal on the decorations and such to eliminate waste. I’m heading to a farmer’s market the day before to buy flowers for my bouquet, and am growing other flowers for decorations in a greenhouse. Can’t wait to see it all come together!”

Katie: “I used all recycled paper for my programs and kept the page number to a minimum. I hated the idea of all that paper going immediately in the garbage after the ceremony. I also didn’t have flower centerpieces. I used apothecary jars that could be reused after the wedding.”

You absolutely must check out the rest of the comments readers submitted — there are hundreds of fabulous ideas on how to make your own nuptials more eco-chic!

Congratulations to Jamie M. and Meg! You two were randomly selected as the winners of the Andrea Bonelli giveaway and will each receive a $75 gift certificate for your own environmentally friendly jewels!

Another great giveaway is on the way, so be sure to check back in!

Written with love by Whitney
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I always get super excited when I find a jewelry brand that I hadn’t previously heard about. I suddenly find myself dreaming of new rings on my fingers and a new necklace around my neck. It is especially fabulous when I come across a gorgeous jewelry collection and the designer is more than willing to let me share their designs with my favorite Southern Weddings readers.

I just described my experience with Andrea Bonelli Jewelry. Seconds after looking through Andrea Bonelli’s designs, I was salivating over exactly five pairs of earrings, two necklaces and three rings. Don’t even get me started on the bridal collection! I’m a huge fan of dainty jewelry, so Andrea’s work is right up my alley. Better yet, every piece is eco-friendly. Looking chic while helping the planet? Sign me up!

Now, you have a chance to get your favorite Andrea Bonelli piece!

To Enter: Do you have any plans to incorporate eco-friendly details into your wedding? Have you ever attended an eco-chic wedding? Share with us by posting below for your chance to win.

Win: Two lucky people will win $75 gift certificates to Andrea Bonelli Jewelry. Then you can go over to their website and select any piece your heart desires.

This lovely giveaway will be over next Monday, March 7th, at midnight. Which means you should enter immediately. Really.

Written with love by Whitney
53 Comments
  1. avatar Laura reply

    We are planning our wedding in DC and have picked a hotel by the metro. The out of town guests will be able to get from the airport to the hotel and explore all DC has to offer without renting a car!

    • avatar Katie reply

      I used all recycled paper for my programs and kept the page number to a minimum. I hated the idea of all that paper going immediately in the garbage after the ceremony. I also didn’t have flower centerpieces. I used apothecary jars that could be reused after the wedding.

  2. avatar Heather Taylor reply

    I have no eco-friendly plans, as of now…but I love this jewelry!

  3. avatar Marie reply

    We are lucky enough to live near the beach; so we’ll be using the natural beauty of Florida beaches as our decor, no need for unnecessary “stuff.”

  4. avatar Natalie reply

    While we are not having an overtly eco-friendly wedding we have included some eco friendly elements to our planning. We are having our wedding in downtown Greenville, SC. Everything will be within walking distance of the hotel so no one will need a car. In addition, the city of Greenville is a wonderful location in the south that has tried to be more environmentally friendly. The hotel we are using and other businesses have already taken steps to be more environmentally friendly. Finally our wedding will be held on the banks of the Reedy River in a beautiful pavilion- a river that I even helped clean up when I was in high school. It will be a way for our guests to enjoy the beauty of the river and park without having over a hundred people trample through the local wildlife’s habitat.
    While I have not been to an eco-chic wedding I have seen some amazing pictures online from people that have. I think that if you have the resources to do it you should go for it!

  5. avatar Lindsey reply

    We are getting married at a Farmer’s Market, so we will be utilizing a lot of the local vendors that have booths at the market. Our programs will be printed on recycled paper as well. Love this jewelry!

  6. avatar Lynn N. reply

    I plan on incorporating Eco-friendly jewlrey into my wedding after I win this gift certificate!

  7. avatar Carolyn reply

    My finance and I have a couple ways to be eco-friendly for our wedding, as well as support local businesses! One, for Valentines Day he got me a bunch of sunflower, daisy, and purple coneflower seed for us to plant and use as the floral decorations in our wedding and barn reception! And to hold all these wonderful wildflowers? We’ll be using glass bottles, jars, and vases picked up from family, friends, and yard sales! Afterwards, they will all be given back to owners, can be taken as a favor, or recycled! Nothing wasted please! We are also going to support a local winery (Victoria Valley Vineyards) by going for a wine tasting with our wedding party and allowing everyone to vote for the best red and white to serve during the reception!

  8. avatar Brandy reply

    Our wedding was pretty DIY, which I figure is quite green. All the flowers were in season and we used dried hydrangeas from my grandmother’s yard that we still use in the house today. Just about everything for the wedding was local.

  9. avatar Clara G reply

    I am having my wedding outside in a beautiful field. To give back to the Earth and the owners of the land, all of my guests will be throwing wildflower seeds as my future hubby and I leave the reception. I can’t wait to go back and see all of the beautiful flowers that will grow there!

  10. avatar JGarcia reply

    Such great ideas on here. I’ll have to check back here periodically to get more great tips! I plan on making my wedding as eco-friendly as possible. Andrea’s jewelry is already on my list of vendors! Such beautiful pieces. Also on my “green” list…paperless invites, edible centerpieces, and all local (hopefully organic) catering.

  11. avatar Julie h. reply

    I plan on using foods from my local farmers market, everything organic from foods to liquor! Ecofriendly but stylish tableware,cups, and decor. Lots of DIY things as well!

  12. avatar Linden reply

    I’m not engaged yet, but I’m the MOH for my sister’s June wedding. We’re trying to incorporate some “green” aspects into the planning but my favorite so far is the dress! She’s decided not to buy a new dress and instead wear the same dress that our mother and grandmother, great aunt, and several cousins wore… Over 150 years of happy marriages started with that dress! It’s getting updated a bit to fit current styles (goodbye long sleeves!) but it is stunning. Picture vintage ivory lace that is incredibly detailed and beautiful. And my redheaded, fair sister sure looks fabulous in it! Being eco-friendly while also adding such a sweet and sentimental touch to the start of a marriage?!? Yes please! I have a feeling this won’t be the last time this dress is worn, either… wink wink. Oh- and Andrea’s jewelry? Simply breathtaking. LOVE!

  13. avatar T James reply

    Eco-friendly ideas are so important for our future! I went to a wedding that was very much centered around an Earthly/environment-friendly theme. The couple planted a tree during their ceremony and talked about how the roots of the tree would grow with time, signifying how their love would strengthen as well. Then they both watered it together – it was so special! They also gave out little potted flowers as favors, complete with instructions. It was a beautiful idea!

  14. avatar Jamie Montgomery reply

    At our wedding instead of giving tradition favors we gave little eco-friendly brown bags of sunflower seeds with a sticker on the front that stated “Let your love grow”. They were a huge hit. Friends and family sent us pictures of their beautiful sunflowers blooming in the spring! I’m glad we could help make their gardens more beautiful with our eco-friendly favor!

  15. avatar Annie reply

    I believe that recycling and reusing whatever you can in creative ways is vital for a successful future. Not only in our dream weddings, but also in life! In my pregnancy with my daughter, one very big moment decided how I would approach an eco-friendly lifestyle. I LOVE fish, and yet, when I was pregnant I was told that is wasn’t really “safe” to eat certain fishes more that 2x per week(and some not at all). The heavy metals (i.e. mercury) in the fish were too high. Gold mining is known to be the #1 cause of methyl-mercury poisoning within fish. To me, I would rather be able to eat fish everyday for the rest of my life than to have gold on my finger. This is why I will always choose reused and reclaimed gold… and why I love Andrea Bonelli Jewelry!

  16. avatar Melissa W reply

    Speaking of jewelry, my engagement ring and both of our wedding bands are made of recycled gold! My diamond is also a conflict-free diamond.

    Our save-the-date and invitation suite are made of 20% recycled cotton and I letterpressed them myself using an Epic 6 Letterpress machine.

    Our venue for our ceremony will be alongside the banks of the Intra-Coastal Waterway in Morehead City. Using the waterway as our backdrop, there isn’t a need for decor. Our reception will be located at the same ceremony venue, eliminating the need for guests to travel in between. Our blocked hotels are within five miles of the venue, also reducing travel.

    Another way that we have implemented “going green” was to reuse items from previous brides! I have two sisters that have gotten married in the last four years, so we have a lot of decor for the reception that we will be reusing. They include candles, silver candle pillars, tablecloths, shepard’s hooks, chargers and hurricane vases. Craigslist has proven an amazing resource because listings are by city, which eliminates transport and/or shipping. I have found mint julep cups, 250′ of bistro-café lights, tablecloths and marble gems from recent newlyweds.

    We are also DIYing items, one of which are the oil lamps made from blue wine bottles. My fiance is a bartender, so we have collected riesling bottles to re-purpose into oil lamps using ceramic wicks, lamp oil and water. These will add a warm light and a pop of color to our table centerpieces. For our bouquets, we are using in-season, local hydrangeas and these will serve dual-purpose as centerpieces at our reception.

    Our caterer is supplied by local fishermen and seasonal farmers, and we will not be having disposables at our reception. Instead, we decided to use our collection of over 75 pint glasses from local bars that have “buy a pint and keep the glass night” and collected mason jars from friends and online. We decided to forego bottled beer, and use keg beer instead.

    Lastly, I fell in love with biodegradable confetti poppers, and decided that we must have them for our exit. Seriously, these are a genius invention!

    Another way to go green and put some green back in our pockets will be to resale items that you won’t need after the wedding. I really don’t need 250 feet of café lights on our back deck, so uhhmmm.

  17. avatar Ashley Victoria Photography – Destin Wedding Photographer reply

    This is stunning!!!

  18. avatar Kim reply

    Definitely planning to incorporate as many eco chic items into our wedding as possible! Out of town guests’ welcome bags will be reusable grogery totes in early an earth friendly fabric (jute or out of recycled plastic bottles…just can’t decide which one I like better!), much of the food will be from local, organic farms including our wedding favors… local Georgia peaches and honey, and all of the wedding weekend events are going to be centrally located in a pedestrian friendly area so no cars will be needed!

  19. avatar Ashley Victoria Photography – Destin Wedding Photographer reply

    This is stunning!!

  20. avatar Stacey reply

    I have been to a couple weddings that have use many recycled items. I always love to suggest using new excited things…would love to pass this on to my clients. Thanks for this fun giveaway.

  21. avatar Amanda I reply

    We’re trying to be eco-friendly, by inviting fewer people and using potted plants instead of cut flowers for the centerpieces.
    Thanks!

  22. avatar Sydney Dawn reply

    My recently engaged friends saved loads of paper by sending out their save the date cards via email. They were cute, practical, eco-friendly, and a lot less hassle than stuffing envelopes!

  23. avatar Erica K reply

    I am already a HUGE fan of Andrea’s work (every day I wear something made by her)

    For my own wedding we decided instead of flowers on the tables to have candles and glass plates which we then reused for our kitchen, we had shot glasses for wedding favours, so no junk food, and no rubbish afterwards, we had the wedding at the same spot as the reception so no driving between venues, and we were staying less than 5 minutes away. No presents were requested, as we already were living together and we had bubbles instead of confetti or rice, because both are bad for birds and for the general environment.

    We have been told that all that attended enjoyed themselves and thought it was beautiful. We kept guest lists to a minimum to ensure this, and had a ball ourselves!

  24. avatar Jessica reply

    What an awesome giveaway! We’re making a lot of the decorations ourselves and supporting local farmers for the brunch. As we have an awesome farmer’s market in the area, I’m looking forward to seeing it all come together!

  25. avatar Sydney reply

    We will be using recycled paper for our invitations. We are also going to take advantage of the wonderful local farming for our brunch reception!

  26. avatar Erin A. reply

    Our venue is actually LEED certified and beautiful (eco-chic in a nutshell!) and I’m making my own paper flowers (recyclable) which I hope people will re-purpose in their homes! I’m repurposing old vases from thrift shops to put them in!

    On a side note – Pick me!

  27. avatar adrienne reply

    I am trying to buy as much local food as possible and using recycled and vintage. I love this jewelry!

  28. avatar Kate reply

    We used compostable bamboo forks at our outdoor wedding!

  29. avatar Kim K reply

    We are having our wedding at the zoo! Cuts down on the decor needed and our fees support the zoo’s programs.

  30. avatar Silvia reply

    I am getting married in Miami, FL (my hometown) and my fiance is from San Francisco, CA (as are his friends and family)– an eco challenge if ever there was one! We will offset some of the carbon footprint of all those travelers by serving organic and as much locally-sourced food as possible. The flowers will also be local, seasonal, and fair trade. Our invitations will be printed on recycled paper and will direct people to our website instead of using inserts for information like directions and registry. Our rings will be recycled gold, and I will be wearing my mother’s wedding dress with some alterations– a true vintage piece!

    If I win this contest, I might just be wearing some eco-friendly Andrea Bonelli jewelry, too!

  31. avatar Jennifer reply

    I’ve never been to a totally “green” wedding, but we will be making adjustments to our own wedding so that it has eco-friendly…and chic…elements!!! For starters, we are only using local vendors. Even down to my dress & trousseau and the bridal party dresses! The food for the reception and rehearsal dinner will all be locally, sustainably grown and in season. My invitations and programs are being printed on paper made from recycled materials and using ink that is non-toxic with natural dyes.

  32. avatar Elizabeth P. reply

    We’re sourcing as much as we can locally (food, vendors, decor, etc.)

  33. avatar Hannah reply

    I was recently in the wedding of one of my dearest, oldest friends – keeping with true traditional southern style and adding an eco friendly twist – she had all of her save the dates, programs and invitations laid onto fully compostable sheets of natural paper with seeds embedded into them. After the ceremony we were able to actually plant the invitation and program and with a little sunshine and water – a beautiful plot of bachelor button flowers bloomed and can now remind us of their special day everytime we look at them! No only eco-friendly but sentimental and sweet too!

  34. avatar Heather Forsythe reply

    We just designed a ceremony program which is letterpress printed (a very green printing method!) on recycled cotton with organic wildflower seeds embedded in it. After the wedding, guests can take the program home and grow it!

  35. avatar courtney reply

    we consider our wedding weekend very eco friendly by keeping everything local. we are using all local, non commercial vendors. we have purposely choosen our church and reception venue because of how close they are to each other. no driving necessary! just walking a few short blocks. we have also decided to use our own flowers…yup…from my mother garden. we are also making our favors, my grandmothers madelines ;) all together i think this makes a wedding eco friendly and ultimatly brings families and friends together!

  36. avatar Lori reply

    We are using lots of local vendors! We are also holding our ceremony/reception at the same site- no traveling between!

    What a great jewelry line!

  37. avatar Carolyn K. reply

    At one spring wedding I attended last year, the couple gifted their guests with potted plants as favors. Daffodils, hyacinths, tulips galore! The pinks, purples, and yellows brightened up the day in spite of the dreary March shower, and everyone loved their fresh addition to their garden. I took my hyacinth home and planted it in my front yard. I can’t wait for it to bloom this month and think of my wonderful friends and their lovely day.

  38. avatar Angela Morgan reply

    I am doing several eco-friendly DIY table decoration projects!

  39. avatar Vanessa reply

    Of course I plan on incorporating eco-friendly details into my wedding! Although I’ve never attended one, I would love to see them profiled more often on your website. I could use some ideas!

  40. avatar Erin reply

    Hello! Because my fiancé is European (while I am from, and we live in, the South), we were guaranteed to burn significant fossil fuels bringing in friends and family from overseas. With that in mind, we sought to plan a wedding that would impart a very positive impact on the surrounding environment and businesses. In fact, we specifically chose to have our wedding take place on the panhandle beaches of Florida that were most hurt by the BP oil spill. These folks need our business; and their environment needs protecting. Our plans include kayak eco-tours and a feast of local clams at the nearby restaurant! We will certainly show our dear ones that Southerners are very forward-thinking, environmentally-respectful folks, with a unique relationship with the land, the water, and its creatures.

  41. avatar Jillian reply

    I love those pieces, and anything that can help the world go green! Im in the intital planning phases so I havent incorporated any eco-chic… yet!

  42. avatar Stefanie reply

    One of my favorite eco friendly aspects I am including is having potted herbs as centerpieces, that double as favors! It will be beautiful, they won’t go to waste days after the wedding, and they will be so aromatic! I am also using recycled paper, and using all local vendors! By the way… love the jewelry!!

  43. avatar francine reply

    i have never been to an eco-friendly wedding but it is something i would like to keep in mind when i plan my own someday! (someday soon hopefully, hahaha)

  44. avatar Kelly Cifranic reply

    Respecting the environment is very important to my fiancé and me. In general, we recycle, try to use a little electricity as possible, bike or walk places when possible or carpool when walking or biking is not an option, and try to buy locally when possible. We are in the beginning stages of planning our wedding, and we began to look at eco-friendly options for planning large events. We realized that many of them are things we would have done anyway or that it make a lot more sense.

    Being green in wedding details does not mean going way out of your way to fulfill green goals – it’s more like a series of common sense decisions rather than sacrifices. We’d like to have our ceremony in spring so that we can reduce air-conditioning/heating needs as much as possible. We’re using free online web tools such as Google Weddings to plan our wedding, as a way to reduce paper and make communicating with our families and bridal party simpler.

    For favors at our wedding, we plan on giving out little bundles of coffee from our favorite local coffee shop, Grounds for Thought, located in Bowling Green, OH. We have seen these given as favors at other weddings and love the idea! Coffee from Grounds is perfect because it is both delicious and sold in a fair trade process, in which workers and the environment are respected. We are going to limit the use of flowers by having brooch bouquets and “military” medallion boutonnieres. The bouquets and boutonnieres will be doubly good for the environment because they will be made of thrifted materials. We will reduce our guests’ impact on the environment by holding the wedding and the reception at the same site (the church were I grew up, and the hall that belongs to it!). This site is also a 30-minute (or less) commute of where the majority of our guests live. We’d like to donate unused food and/or send it home with our guests so it doesn’t go to waste.

    We will have a small registry made up of things we actually need, and will give our guests the option of donating money to the local animal welfare society we adopted our dog from or to the American Cancer Society, as we have both lost loved ones to that terrible disease. We are sending our Save Our Dates electronically, printing our invitations on recycled paper, and including directions to the wedding/reception site on our wedding website. We are not sure we are going for our honeymoon yet, but we know we want to go somewhere that has plenty of options for outdoor activities such as biking, swimming, and hiking, and that has plenty of restaurants that use locally grown ingredients.

    Our photographer is going to only use digital film, in order to reduce the use of chemicals used in film photography, and we are going to use a photo album made of recycled materials. We are also going to preview the photos electronically rather than in prints. We are going to have a small display cake, and supplement the rest with sheet cakes and our favorite homemade desserts. For centerpieces, we are going have potted plants such as succulents that guests can take home with them and continue to raise. We are also going to have some candles as part of the centerpiece displays – but they will be battery-operated, faux candles.

    I would like to purchase our wedding jewelry from Andrea Bonelli Jewelry because of its eco-friendly practices. I mean, looking beautiful, treating the planet well, and creating some good karma? Awesome! I took an American Environmental History class a couple years ago, and it impacted me greatly. We learned a lot about stewardship and what it means to be a good steward of the land. While my fiancé and I want our wedding to be a fairy tale, we want to be realistic and considerate in our decisions. We would like to set a precedent in our lives and for our family regarding how we treat the environment and the community.

  45. avatar abi reply

    My wedding is going to be very eco-fabulous. I have handmade my ring bearer pillows, corsages, bouts and other details using shirts that I inherited from my Nana. I also used her vintage clip on earrings to decorate these details. I also bought my pillow forms and baskets for the flower girls at the local Salvation Army. In addition I have purchased my flatware, plates and wine glasses from local thrift shops. The part that I love most about that is that I am benefiting good causes in this tough economic time when so many programs need money because so many people need help.

  46. avatar Ophelie reply

    We’re having a small backyard barbecue wedding. For plates and cutelry, we’re using a great plate-sharing system here in Montreal: no plastic or paper plates for us! Much more elegant and eco friendly.

  47. avatar judith chen reply

    I think I’d really love to have my own eco wedding!

    Organic flowers, organic material dress that I sew myself, organic baked cakes, and eco friendly jewelry :)

    I used to turn leftovers like unused bottles and wires into home decos and that’s what I’m gonna have for my wedding. perhaps it would be a simple garden party with less waste as possible..perhaps I’ll even prepare eco-friendly recycled paper plates if possible :)

  48. avatar Jess reply

    We’re focusing on eco-friendliness for our wedding! The ceremony’s going to be held in the woods and the recpetion’ll be a picnic in the park. Think quilts and blankets spread across a lawn, kites flying in the air…We’re using recycled paper for our invitations, using mis-matched china for the hor’ derves, going minimal on the decorations and such to eliminate waste. I’m heading to a farmer’s market the day before to buy flowers for my bouquet, and am growing other flowers for decorations in a greenhouse. Can’t wait to see it all come together!

  49. avatar Jenn reply

    I love the idea of eco-friendly weddings! It would be a wonderful way for a couple to start a new life together, by treading lightly on the planet!

  50. avatar toviah morris reply

    should i get married one day (again), i plan to use eco friendly materials, including my jewelry. i plan to use an outdoor location with all local, organic food, flowers and products. i love your beautiful work!

  51. avatar Meg reply

    We’re keeping it all simple. We’re keeping it small and we’re keeping all of the hullabaloo (invites, programs, keepsakes, single-use wedding paraphernalia) out of it. We don’t have much of a carbon footprint usually, and we didn’t see any reason to make our wedding an exception.

    Also: my engagement ring is by Andrea Bonelli, so it’s eco-friendly and super lovely.

  52. avatar Jessica reply

    To make our wedding eco-friendly we are collecting old mason jars and vases to be used in our centerpieces. We are also using old buttons & vintage ribbon in our decor. We plan on using/reusing as many items as we possibly can :)

    Love your website! Thanks for the inspiration and great ideas!

Southern Weddings reserves the right to delete comments which contain profanity or personal attacks or seek to promote a business unrelated to the post.  And remember: a good attitude is like kudzu – it spreads.  We love hearing your kind thoughts!

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